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Revolutionary

"Revolutionist" redirects here. For the Hemingway short story, see The Revolutionist.

A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates revolution.[1] Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.

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The term —both as a noun and adjective— is usually applied to the field of politics, and is occasionally used in the context of science, invention or art. In politics, a revolutionary is someone who supports abrupt, rapid, and drastic change, while a reformist is someone who supports more gradual and incremental change. A conservative is someone who generally opposes such changes. A reactionary is someone who wants things to go back to the way they were before the change has happened.

According to the goals of the revolution they propose. Usually, these goals are part of a certain ideology. In theory, each ideology could generate its own brand of revolutionaries. In practice, most political revolutionaries have been either anarchists, communists, nationalists or socialists.

According to the methods they propose to use. This divides revolutionaries in two broad groups: Those who advocate a violent revolution, and those who are pacifists.

"The revolutionary is a doomed man. He has no private interests, no affairs, sentiments, ties, property nor even a name of his own. His entire being is devoured by one purpose, one thought, one passion - the revolution. Heart and soul, not merely by word but by deed, he has severed every link with the social order and with the entire civilized world; with the laws, good manners, conventions, and morality of that world. He is its merciless enemy and continues to inhabit it with only one purpose - to destroy it."[2][3]

According to Che Guevara:[4] "At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a true revolutionary lacking in this quality"[5][6] According to terrorism expert Joseba Zulaika, the words by Che Gevara need to be "taken literally if we are to know what "the terrorist" is all about". She explains, in context of other studies on the subject, that "The world will never fully understand a lover's madness, his or her willingness to embrace even death. It is such excess of subjective desire that afflicts the terrorist as well". In this context the words by Che Guevara is simply "a truism for the violent militant".[7]